Why do WP veterans write such huge posts?

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I understand not everyone wants to read long posts, but you think it is selfish to do so?? Do such people demand that their posts be read, or responded to?

Try another perspective: writing is a gift of a person's time and effort, and it may not be easy for everyone here to write, or to open up and share their experiences.

It takes time to be brief.

The more thought I put into a post the shorter it gets usually. Not longer as a rule

Folks who post a wall of text are usually bad writers, or just didnt have time to think about how to get to the nub of the issue, or were emotionally distraught when they posted.

There are exceptions.

Workplace issues (bullying and so forth) often require alot of detailed explanation for folks outside the person's trade to get the context.

I hate reading walls of text, but sometimes I can be verbiose myself. So sometimes I skim over a wall to get the gist of it.

Its a conundrum.

I imagine that they aren't writing the post specifically for your benefit.

I don't like to beat around the bush, and I usually get straight to the point. Therefore, my posts tend to be short.

If there not writing the post for the reader then who ARE they writing it for?

Who else IS there?

I meant "for EzraS's benefit in particular".
Generally when people don't specify who they are talking to, they are addressing the OP of a thread.

They're not writing it for "the" reader, but rather for readers, plural. Sometimes, I can't be bothered reading long posts, other times I like what I see or I'm in a reading mood. As for the OP, I think he has the choice to not read if he feels it's too much of a wall of text, but I don't overly criticize people for wall-of-text posts.

Hey, War and Peace wasn't for everyone, does that mean Tolstoy shouldn't have published it?

Haha you never make long posts, your posts are easy on the eyes (and fun)!

Edit to say, I don't like this either, but I might have done it a few times when I was trying to get something out. The the thing I hate most of all is big unbroken paragraphs.

I consider it a mentally stimulating challenge to break a big thought down into bite-sized pieces in a clear manner.

My guess the long posts are a result is a combination of factors.

Bright verbose posters, poor Executive function in that they lose track on how long the posts are and how much time it is taking them to write them due to hyperfocus, lack of understanding that readers in a forum situation might not want to read long posts, writing here is cathartic years or even decades of repressed feelings and thoughts are finally being let out.

^^^
that is a pretty good SWAG.

I will admit that unless a topic is of particular interest to me, I won't read every line, though I will read enough to get the gist of what they're saying. Like many higher functioning aspies, my physical reading ability is considerably higher than my comprehension skills, so if it's too long, I will sometimes get confused as to the plot, especially if the poster has a problem with grammar and spelling. I generally don't write long posts because I don't have the energy to, but I don't begruge people who do, and I wouldn't call them selfish or inconsiderate; they're not forcing anyone to read what they've written.

Yeah but the OP is who I was talking about.

It is like the OP title is, "Please give me your opinion on this [fairly simple thing]"

Then they make a gigantic post that is kind like their "life history" even though they have been a WP member for a long time.
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Let me give an example on a real issue I brought up in the teen forum Friends and Family section, only I used about 90% less words and still told what needed to be told.

Title: Me and my cousin, what is your opinion about this?

Okay, I was born August 20th 2000 and my cousin was born April 12th 2000 so that makes us about four months apart. We are cousins because my mom and his mom are sisters. Since my mo and his mom (my cousin that is) are stay at home moms, and they are like best friends, my cousin and I were lumped together all the time since we were little babies. Always given baths together and laid down next to each other for naps. I guess because our age is close to being the same, my cousin has always been able to reach me better than just about anyone else. It is alike he has always understood my autism on an instinctual level. He always seemed to know exactly what I needed and wanted and was like my translator. He would always be saying "Shea needs this" or "Shea needs to" or "Shea is unhappy because". I should explain that even though my first name is Ezra, my middle name is Shea and my family has always called me Shea instead of Ezra most of the time. I like both names, Ezra and Shea, My best friend also calls me Shea, but most everyone else calls me Ezra.

My best friend is my next door neighbor and moved in when we were both nine. He saw me and my cousin Liam playing outside and came over to say "hi" and told us his name was Ryan. My cousin Liam explained to Ryan that I did not talk and acted different because I have this thing called autism that makes me different from other kids, but that I am really cool (his words not mine). So Ryan spent time with me and my cousin Liam that day outside for a while and then came into our house and my cousin Liam introduced Ryan to my mom and dad who are my cousin Liam's aunt and uncle. Ryan played video games with us for a while and them went home. Then Ryan came over the next day when Liam was at his house which is about five miles from my house, and we watched some TV together. Sometime during this my mom talked to Ryan a little more about me being autistic and in what ways it made me different and that I don't like to be touched and stuff like that. But that I do like to be talked to and it might not look like I am paying much attention, but I am actually listening very closely. Then she told Liam, who is the boy who moved in next door to me when we were nine, that is when this was happening when we were both nine which was back in 2009, way to tell how I was happy or interested or annoyed and stuff like that because my expressions were very subtle ans not like other people.

So Ryan kept coming over on a regular basis and we became best friends and still are best friends. And like my cousin Liam, my friend Ryan helps me out with things I need help with because of my autism and because I have dysparxia which means I have fine motor skills problems so i need helping hands with certain things, I fell really blessed having both my cousin Liam and my best friend Ryan in my life and that they have always been so interested in being my friend and helping me. They are taking about maybe getting me an assistance dog as well to help me, mainly because I have really bad navigational skills and get lost really easily and because of awareness problems there is the danger of me getting hit by car, so the dog would help me with that the same as my cousin Liam has always helped me out with that by always holding my hand or wrist or keeping his hand on my shoulder or hanging onto my shirt tail.

Even though I have a problem with being touched or handled, especially unexpectedly. Even my mom and dad have to be careful about like grabbing me unexpectedly because will freak out, But Liam I guess because we are only four months apart and were kind of raised together since we were babies because our moms are sisters and stay at home moms and basically like best friends. So Liam has always been able to get away with grabbing me me and even tackling me and tickling me and stuff like that. This might sound weird but I have always identified Liam best by his smell. It's like he smells bad or weird or anything like that, but he just has this "Liam smell" I call it. So I can always tell it is him right away if he tackles me or whatever. Liam has always been good at figuring out my autism and knowing what I want and what I need and used to translate that stuff to my mom and really helped my mom and dad in understanding me better and relating to me better. Also it helped with my aunt and uncle and my grandma and my grandpa understand how to work with me better also. There are times when I get anxiety attacks and or start to have a sensory overload meltdown and Liam comes up behind me and that's okay because his "Liam smell" always makes me know it is him and he stands behind me and wraps his arms around me and hugs me that way. It kind of looks like he is giving the Heimlich maneuver, but he holds me higher on my chest than that. So he will just hold me tight like that to kind of keep me under control and it comforts me like one of those "hug vests".

Since we were always put in the same crib and playpen for naps, we ere used to sleeping next to each other and have continued to sleep next to each other as we have gotten older. Usually we sleep back to back but sometimes Liam wraps his arms around me when he can tell I need the comfort of that. I think they call that compression comfort. And we both only sleep in just our underwear both when we are sleeping by ourselves or at home. Now me and my best friend Ryan have also always bunked together during sleepovers and to tell the truth when puberty started we began to have special feelings for each other if you know what I mean and I guess we are basically in a gay relationship tether. But me and my cousin Liam even though we are really close do not have any kind of feelings like that for each other at all. So when my friend Ryan and I are having a sleepover together at his house or my house we always keep the door closed and his folks and my folks never come in without knocking.

But since me and my cousin Liam and I are never fooling around or anything like that if you know what I mean, the door whether at my house or his house is often open at least part way. So like our parents have always seen us bunking together when they are walking by to get to their room or wherever. Well one day my uncle, who is Liam's dad, came in to wake us up and we were sleeping with Liam having his arms around me, and we were just only wearing our underwear. So he wakes us up and we kind of untangle from each other and are sitting up in bed next to each other the same as always, and my uncle is just standing there looking at us. Finally my cousin said "what?" and my uncle said, "we are wondering if you boys are not getting too old for this". Then left the room and me and my cousin sat there with our mouths hanging open in like shock or whatever. Liam was more effected by it because he was reading my uncle's facial expression, body language and tone of voice that I am kind of oblivious to, and he said my uncle was expressing disapproval. And that really upset Liam because in all these years he has always gotten huge approval in being so close to me like no one else can be, except for my friend Ryan, and how he always knows how to comfort me and make me feel better. So this came as a real shock to us both and us bunking together is nothing we ever thought anyone else would think is wrong. But I guess, and he guesses, that since we are teenagers now it is that we are getting to old for it. So we are wondering if we should quit bunking together or if it doesn't really matter and keep doing it. We did bunk together again the next night because I was sleeping over at my aunt and uncle's house for the weekend. But this time we kept the door closed for like the first tome ever. Certainly for the first time ever on purpose, even though we have absolutely nothing to hide from our folks in what we do together in his room or my room. No one has said anything more to us about it. And Liam said no one is looking at us funny or acting funny or anything like that, so that is a good thing. But what my uncle said is still sticking to us and we are not sure what we should do and of course we don't want to bring it up with our folks because we do not want our folks to say anything more about it.

^ That is what I am talking about. Maybe interesting, but unnecessarily long and not really fair it seems to me to those I'm asking advice from.
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Last edited by EzraS on 05 Mar 2014, 2:59 am, edited 3 times in total.

i wrote much longer posts when i was new here. it took about 2 years for me to realize that it was futile writing long posts because people did not read them.

there are a few people here who's opinions and thoughts are eminent, and they have an engaging style of writing which i do not have, and people read those posts and reciprocate, and they are then left with less energy to address the other posts, so i no longer waste my energy writing much.

I think there's a miscommunication here. I meant that I was referring to the OP of this particular thread, that is, you. When people write long messages, they aren't thinking of you in particular. The person who replied to my earlier post thought I meant "generalised you", so I was just explaining what I actually meant.

I understood everything you were saying. Just wanted make it clear that I was talking about OP's asking for help and advice, rather than someone's lengthy response to that. Because I can skip over someone elses long response and still help the OP.

However, when I am the OP and someone gives me a 10 mile response, that is a problem too.
Because I do not want to be rude and ignore them, but have such a hard time reading stuff that
long and is so time consuming,